What was the purpose and the theological emphasis of Deuteronomic History?
This is about of the speeches of Moses in Deuteronomy: To possess the land keeping the covenant. How to possess the land? After the settlement what happened? After the generation of those who was in the desert there came the unfaithful to the covenant. The land was taken by foreign, the temple was destroyed and people were deported in Babylon. This is Josh, Jdges and King. Only David, Josiah, was faithful.
Israel and Judah are covenantal people without covenant there is no people, no king, no temple. But they deed evil in the sight of God. The main sin was the apostasy in Josh, Jdges. The theology is: When you will possess the land keep the covenant, don’t marry women from other nations. God used other people to punish Israel for the unfaithfulness.
I. Background of the Deuteronomic History:
- D H (or Deuteronomistic History) is the designation for the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings, with Deuteronomy as the introduction to them. It is one of the two major histories of Israel: 1) D H presents Yahweh’s plan of salvation through the history of his people; 2) Priestly History (or Chronicler’s History = books of Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah).
- D H is concerned with the history of Israel from the entrance into the land to the time of the Babylonian Exile. According to Martin North, the books of the D H were put together by an author living in the exilic period (586-538 BCE) that gathered together a variety of oral and written traditions and wove them into a comprehensive whole. For North, the D H has two sources: 1) The theology of Deuteronomy, which deals with: “One God, One People, and One Sanctuary”; 2) The theology of Jeremiah, which is concerned with: “new covenant based on love, justice, fidelity and care for the poor and the oppressed”.
- The books of D H are also referred to as “the Former Prophets”, because of the important role the prophetic word played in the narrative.
II. The theological message of the Deuteronomic History:
II. 1. Problematic:
- The D H tries to explain the following question: “Why the Kingdom failed and the people were exiled despite God’s covenant promises”? Before answering this question, it is better to distinguish the two kinds of D H, that is, D H1 and D H2: 1) D H1 was written around the time of King Josiah (609), the time when the Northern Kingdom was destroyed 720/1. And the land was populated by foreigners; 2) D H2 was written during the exilic period.
- D H1 + D H2 = (D H) were put together to show that the terrible fate of the people can be understood: 1) The Exile was not meaningless; it did not mean that God was powerless, rather that the people failed as a direct result of their own sins. In fact, this is the basic message proclaimed by both Deuteronomy and Jeremiah; 2) People of Israel “forsook the covenant of the Lord… and went and served other gods and worshiped them” (Deuteronomy 29: 25-26).
- The fundamental concern of the D H is to exhort Israel to put away other gods and to return to the Lord. We find the denunciation of idolatry and worship at the country shrines: 1Kings 11:1-6.9-13; 12:33; 133:2-5; 14:9; 15:12-15; 16:31-33; 21:26; 22:43.46.This is why, 1) In Deuteronomy, God is presented as the One who is faithful to his promise given to the Fathers (Abraham, Isaac and Moses) and a source of blessings without end; 2) In Jeremiah, God is presented as the One who responds to his people’s cries for help. He is the YHWH who elected and made a covenant with Isreal: 1King 6:13; 8:51-53.
- The purpose of D H was to explain why Israelites had failed and why their punishment had been deserved?
1) The Deuteronomic Law was all about: “You must love the Lord your God with your whole heart and soul and strength” (Deuteronomy 6: 5) it was about keeping the commandments 1Kings 3:14; 6:12; 8:57-61; 9:4; 11:10-11.38; 14:8; 15:21.24; 9:4-5…
2) The people of Israel had to choose the way of life (=prosperity in the land) or the way of death (=punishment). Good deeds: 1Kings 2:27; 12:15; 15:25-31; 16:8-14.34b. Retribution on wrongdoers: 1Kings 8:33.35. 46; 14:10-11; 15:30; 16:1-2
- Fidelity to the covenant leads to prosperity in the land and infidelity to the covenant leads to punishment: 1) The books of D H show the ups and downs of the chosen people of Israel; 2) The book of Joshua shows the time of fidelity; Judges-infidelity; 1 Samuel-infidelity, 2 Samuel-fidelity; 1&2 Kings-infidelity. NB: Most of the time, Israelites’ relationship with God was a time of infidelity.
- There are two elements explained in the D H: 1) The covenant between God and the people and why God has punished Israel for infidelity; 2) The promise of the land and why they have lost it.
NB: Generally speaking, the main issue was to explain why the Kingdom failed and why the people were exiled despite God’s covenant promises.
II. 2. Dilemma in God’s promise:
- The D H theologians tell us that Sinaitic Covenant was conditional: 1) The Israelites had ended up in exile because of their failure to keep their part of the covenant; 2) God was faithful to the covenant. And if the Israelites were faithful to the covenant, they would prosper. Since they were unfaithful to the covenant, then they entered into a severe suffering.
- The D H theologians emphasized that by going into exile, God did not make a mistake at all: 1) The exile brought about their purification of faith; 2) On one hand, the exile brought about the recognition of the only One God (Yahweh), who is the true God for all nations (One People) able to worship him (One Sanctuary). On the other hand, the exile brought about the attention or focus on love, justice, fidelity and care for the poor and the oppressed.
II. 3. Theological message from the books of D H:
1) Book of Deuteronomy: “One God, One People, One Sanctuary”.
2) Book of Joshua: * The conquest of Canaan is the fulfillment of God’s promise to the patriarchs, emphasizing that God is faithful. * Faithful service to God is favorable rewarded whereas disobedience is punished.
3) Book of Judges: “God intervenes in history on the side of the victims.
4) 1-2 Books of Samuel: “God is seen as the origin of kingship”.
5) 1-2 Books of Kings: * David paradigm of faithfulness and obedience to God, therefore Yahweh promised him an unending dynasty. 1Kings 2:2-4.24; 3:5-8.13-14; 5:2-5.228:15-21.
* Jeroboam I, by contrast is the paradigm of unfaithful Israel.
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